For some, it would seem that artist Guido Frick’s Lake Constance home in Germany would be among the most idyllic places on earth.

This week, he said Covington County provided the perfect backdrop for his plein air painting class. Plein air painting, is a phrase borrowed from the French equivalent meaning “open (in full) air.”

Frick led an LAAC class of nine students on a three-day journey of painting outdoors. On the first day, they painted a still life; the second, they painted in a hay field; and the third day, they went to Lake Frank Jackson.

“In Germany, as winter approaches, everything is already gray,” he said of the weather. “The skies are gray, the cities are gray, even the faces of the people.”

He spends six months each year in the United States, and will travel throughout the country, producing workshops from California to Florida. In the half-years he’s spent in America for the past eight years, he’s put more than 350,000 on the van he drives in the States, and stores it in L.A. when he heads home to Germany.

“I enjoy every mile of every day in the United States,” he said.

For most of his students, painting outdoors is a new experience, he said.

“It takes lots of concentration and energy,” he said. “They will be exhausted afterward.”

It’s the artist’s interpretation of what he or she sees in nature that makes it art, he said.

“The artist puts his power, temperament, and energy into it,” he said. “Otherwise, it would all look the same.”

He also appreciates America’s open spaces, he said.

“If I painted on the shores of Lake Constance, pretty soon there would be people all around me,” he said. “Here, I can have a great day with privacy and create idyllic art.”

His local class drew students from Andalusia, Opp, Elba, New Brockton, Birmingham and the greater Atlanta area. The LAAC also hosted a reception featuring his work at The Gallery on Tuesday night.